


Tracing the Inches of Your Skin

by danisnopeonfire



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Ficlet, M/M, One Shot, Phan - Freeform, Phan Fluff, how disgusting, this is literally just fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-01
Updated: 2015-11-01
Packaged: 2018-04-29 10:50:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5124749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/danisnopeonfire/pseuds/danisnopeonfire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Phil loves to count and trace his fingers over the freckles on Dan's back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tracing the Inches of Your Skin

It’s 3am, and Phil’s doing it again.

They’re in bed and Dan’s been trying to get to sleep for the past  _two hours_ , but Phil has been counting the freckles on the top of his back ever since their bodies made contact with the sheets. Not a word has been uttered between them, and Dan knows that’s probably for the best in this kind of situation because Phil often loves solitude, regardless of what his usually bubbly and extroverted personality will tell you. After a hard day’s work, this is just Phil’s way of winding down.

He’ll climb into bed next to Dan with a smile on his face, and Dan will know what’s coming because he  _knows_  that smile—he can recognise its meaning from a mile off—and then his hand will reach instinctively for the small of Dan’s back. His movements will be slow at first, barely making contact with the bare skin, but applying enough pressure to make Dan squirm and giggle ever so slightly. And naturally, Phil will smile at Dan’s giggles and he’ll kiss his neck once (or twice, or three times) out of adoration for him, and his fingers will dance and stride and twirl their way up Dan's skin until they brush over the first few freckles.

And then Phil will smile again because,  _wow_ , he loves those freckles. Ever since he saw them for the first time so many years ago, his soft spot for them hasn’t hardened one bit. Often when they’re lounging on the couch or sitting on a train or doing  _something_ that gives the Phil the opportunity to touch Dan in some way, his hand will always sneak its way around the curve of Dan’s waist and trail up to the top of his back where he knows his freckles are. And he’ll drum his fingers along the soft skin absently because most of the time he doesn’t even  _realise_ what he’s doing, but Dan always turns and smiles at him because he recognises the habit straight away. It’s one of Phil’s silly quirks that Dan could quite easily lose himself in, just by watching Phil wander off into his own little blissful world.

Dan shuffles slightly under the sheets and buries his head further between Phil’s shoulder, nosing his neck gently. He places a light kiss to Phil's collarbone and feels as he shudders.

Phil lets out a little chuckle and breathes out slowly. “You made me lose count.”

His fingers come to a halt on Dan’s back, and instead he just rubs the flat of his hand against the skin as he sighs.

“Sorry,” Dan murmurs. “I’ll keep still.”

“That would be helpful, silly,” Phil giggles, and Dan lets out a breath of content through his nose. After few moments of stillness, Phil’s fingers naturally pick up again as they trace around the freckles. Dan can feel the light thudding of Phil’s heartbeat against his ear, and he can hear him counting under his breath as he counts the freckles on Dan’s skin.  _One…two…three…four…_

“Pretty,” Phil whispers to himself between counts, pausing a few times to kiss Dan’s forehead. “You’re so pretty…”

Dan hums as he feels his eyes drooping even more; it’s always easy for him to forget just how much of an impact Phil’s gentleness can have on helping him get to sleep. Just one touch from Phil can make Dan’s eyes drop within a  _second_. And on top of that, it’s just  _so nice_ to be adored for something that used to make Dan so self-conscious. He’s always had a vicious intolerance for his freckles and always made sure to cover his back because people would comment about them and look at him strangely. But Phil—he was different. When Dan had told him in confidence that he  _loathed_  the freckles on his back, Phil had told him that he was ridiculous and had kissed each one of them to prove his point, making Dan giggle relentlessly at his boyfriend’s silly behaviour. Ever since then, Phil has made it his goal to tell Dan every day just how much he loves that part of his body, along with everything else.

“It tickles,” Dan whispers, breaking the silence again. Phil chuckles lowly and buries his face into the curly mop atop Dan’s head; they haven’t been outside today so he hasn’t straightened it.

“Does it tickle as much as this?” Phil asks. He digs his fingers into Dan's sides and starts to tickle him properly. Dan breathes a giggle into Phil’s neck as he squirms more, feeling his face start to redden.

“Phil,  _stop_ ,” he chuckles, his hands travelling down to rest on top of Phil’s and pull them away. Phil stops with a grin and looks down at him affectionately. He moves a hand to push Dan’s damp hair away from his eyes, and he places a single kiss to the corner of his mouth.

“You’re beautiful,” he admits in a whisper. Dan snorts and pulls his body away so that he can look over Phil’s face.

“You’re too kind to me."

“Maybe you’re just not kind enough to yourself?” Phil quips back, cocking an eyebrow. He leans forward again to capture Dan’s lips, placing gentle pecks there that travel all around Dan’s face. He kisses his chin, his cheeks, his eyes, his forehead…and all the while, Dan giggles uncontrollably.

“You’re silly,” Dan tells him with a chuckle, shaking his head.

“Yeah?” Phil breathes, tilting his head to the side. “Then I’m only silly because I love you.”

Dan blinks up at him slowly, feeling the words go straight to his heart and capture it in warmth. A smile tugs at his lips as he buries his head back in Phil’s neck and places a final kiss there, closing his eyes. It takes only a few moments for him to almost fall back asleep again, but he doesn’t fall completely until he mumbles, “I love you, too.”


End file.
